Let me give you a little background so you understand our year of unemployment. My husband graduated in Law School in April of 2017. He had started looking for a job in the Fall of 2016, the semester before he graduated. About half of his graduating class had job offers by the time they graduated in April. That left the…

My husband and I are in a competition of sorts. Within a month of eachother, we both started blogs, both with the goal to monetize and create sources of semi-passive income. When it came to pinterest, I did enough research that I knew the basics. I started a business profile right away, separate from my personal account (I would not…

Life is unpredictable, but your finances shouldn’t be. You can create financial wellness by following these 5 steps! 1. Save, save, save Saving money should be your top priority! Why? Because saving is how you pay for big purchases. Saving is how you make investments. Saving is how you buy a car and a house. Saving is how you retire! …

We live in the Dallas area. Our family loves having tons of big-city things to do, but I hate spending the big city prices! Lots of things here – the zoo, the aquarium, indoor play structures, and more – have a daily rate and a membership option. So is a museum membership cheaper than buying one-day tickets? I’m excited…

Amortizing personal costs prepares you for these large expenses by having cash on-hand when they come due. It also keeps your budget realistic. For a budget to be useful, you need to account for all your expenses, even the ones that aren’t actually due every month. Amortizing is also the way to incorporate surprise costs into your budget! The goal of a…

In my student loan hack and swagbucks savings articles, I talk about using a high-interest savings account. These methods are both about taking advantage of higher returns on money that you need to keep easily accessible. Using a high-interest savings account is key to making your money work for you! This article will cover the basics of why you…

It’s no secret that meal planning is a huge money saver. When you know whats for dinner, you are less likely to eat out or run to the grocery store and spend more money on food you probably don’t need. I love meal planning, and it has made a world of difference in our budget and in our diet! Today…

As a rule, pretty much every financial adviser ever will tell you to stay away from student loans at all costs! And, for the most part, I agree with them. But sometimes, especially for graduate students, a student loan is the only way to finance an education. We were super glad we did our undergraduate degrees without any student loans! However, we…

After showing you how I budget a few weeks ago, I decided to make my customized budget available to all of my wonderful readers! You can download this free excel budget below, and read on to find out how the spreadsheet works. Download your free yearly excel budget here! Once you download it, navigate to the practice sheet and fill in your…

Why use grouping? If you have an elaborate excel spreadsheet, grouping can help you navigate by hiding information that isn’t essential. However, that information is still there and easy to access! Your entire budget might be laid out like this – There is tons of good info, but it isn’t very easy to pull out the most important stuff at…

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Family Finances is a finance blog geared towards families. We know that saving and budgeting look different when you have kids or parents depending on you! We believe that finances are a family matter, and that the family that saves together, stays together!